Lexapro saved me.. then fucked me

TLDR lexapro dampened my severe depression but then made my ADHD worse for years without me realizing it

I’m sharing my story in the hope that it will help others make the right decision for themselves!! In 2021 my mental health was extremely poor and I was prescribed Lexapro to treat severe depression and anxiety. I was in the process of getting my ADHD diagnosis at the time but the 💖unprecedented 💖 situation outside made my depression spiral out of control. Lexapro saved me, making my depression less violently severe. I don’t regret getting on it and I recommend it!

The thing is that over time, my mental health continued to suffer. As my anxiety decreased from the lexapro, my ADHD didn’t have anything to keep it in check. By 2025 I was struggling with basic tasks like dental hygiene, something id only struggled with before during bouts of severe depression.

Anyway!! I thought I was just mega fucked until a few weeks ago I lost access to my lexapro. I went through very dangerous withdrawals (please never quit psychiatric meds without working with your doctor!!!) but on the other side I feel… so much better???? Like I can do shit???

After so long of thinking I was so depressed and also anxiety-free that it was making my ADHD worse (which in turn made me more depressed), it turns out that the meds I was on just weren’t right for me anymore and were having side effects that didn’t work for me!!!! Because it turns out that lexapro can cause extreme sleepiness and lack of motivation or executive function??? I thought this was just me either being lazy or being too depressed!

I am absolutely going to go back on another antidepressant, but it’s been a game changer to realize that the road block im facing might be helped by trying other kinds of antidepressants, which I just had never considered. (Also I’ll try ADHD meds eventually but gotta get back on an antidepressant first).

Anyway I hope this is useful information for someone else because I literally didn’t know about this until 4 days ago!!